Posted on April 19, 2026
The Lens-Artists challenge this week is ‘history through the lens’.
If I were being pedantic (pedantic? moi? surely not) I could argue that every photograph ever taken is an example of history through the lens, because it captures a moment in time that has already passed into history, even before you get a chance to look at it.
Of course, this isn’t really helpful for the purposes of the challenge. What we’re after is something indisputably old, and preferably crumbling.
But enough about my selfies. Like most photographers, I suspect, I have plenty of images of old buildings in various states of decay and disrepair. However, I wanted to find something a bit different.
This is part of a tableau in a museum set in an old chateau (I forget exactly where, unfortunately). The table is set with furniture and crockery of the interwar years, but what made it stand out for me was the blown-up to life-size old photograph that had been somehow printed onto a cloth sheet to form a backdrop to the scene.
Two particular features worthy of note: the massive wooden clogs worn by the gentleman on the right. And I hope that the other man in the picture is not really who he looks like.

Lens-Artists Challenge: History through the lens
Category: Autrefois, Black & White Tagged: Black & White, History, Lens-Artists, Museum, sepia, tableau
Posted on December 31, 2023
It’s not just the Sistine Chapel that boasts a fancy ceiling. This one is in the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec museum in Albi, which is housed in the former Bishops’ Palace, just a step away from the Cathedral.

Cellpic Sunday 31 December 2023
Category: Composition Tagged: #cellpicsunday, Albi, Art, Cellpic Sunday, Museum, Painting, Symmetry, Toulouse-Lautrec
Posted on October 26, 2023
A display of Roman-era amphorae in the museum of Perigueux.

Posted on November 24, 2021
A clever way of getting an all-round view of this elaborately decorative pendant, on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum (‘The V&A’) in London.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Reflections or Shadows
Category: Uncategorized Tagged: Cee's Fun Foto Challenge, Jewelry, Museum, Reflections, V&A
Posted on October 25, 2019
This surprisingly modest old kitchen is on display at a Chateau in the Dordogne departement of France.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Things found in a kitchen
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Dordogne, Kitchen, Museum
Posted on August 21, 2019
Frank’s challenge this week has the theme of key. Rather rarer than the locks or keyholes that they marry up with, but I did find this impressive set, which must once have belonged to the chatelaine, in an old house in the Dordogne which is now a museum.

Category: Uncategorized Tagged: fpj-photo-challenge, Keys, Museum, Tuesday Photo Challenge
Posted on January 9, 2019
Based in Nantes, the French biscuit manufacturers Lu (Lefevre Utile) are long-established and happily still producing, even if not in their original factory. Their ‘petits écoliers’ chocolate biscuits – especially the plain chocolate version – cannot be recommended too highly.
Apart from the product itself, Lu’s publicity material is also iconic. This image is of a pair of their advertising signs from around the turn of the last century, and was taken in the Chateau des Ducs museum in Nantes.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pairs
Category: Autrefois Tagged: advertising, Cee's Fun Foto Challenge, Colourful, Lu biscuits, Museum, Nantes
Posted on November 7, 2018
Cee wants to see some images of tools this week. I spotted this in the Museum in Perigueux.
As the card states, it’s a pair of scissors for shearing sheep. They’ve been in the museum since 1914, but date from some time in the late 19th century at a guess. They are made of iron, no doubt by a village blacksmith.
Nowadays, sheep are sheared using electric clippers, which is obviously a lot quicker than this traditional method – although only a few years ago we watched our neighbour and his wife shearing one of their sheep with a pair quire similar to these.
Next year, the World Sheep-Shearing Championship (yes, there is such a thing) will be held in the nearby town of Le Dorat. I sense a major photo opportunity.

Posted on January 23, 2018
This week, Frank at Dutch Goes The Photo! has returned to the theme of ‘Old’.
As this year is, of course, the centenary of the end of World War I, this image seems appropriate. It is a French Army helmet of the period, now housed in the Museum at the Chateau des Ducs in Nantes.

Category: Autrefois Tagged: Army, fpj-photo-challenge, military, Museum, Nantes, Old, World War I
Posted on May 19, 2017
This wrought iron balcony dates from about 1740 and is now on display in the Chateau des Ducs museum in Nantes. The pattern is complex enough on its own but the shadows add a further dimension.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: W or X
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Ironwork, Museum, Nantes, Shadows, wrought iron